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A detailed study on aerosol particle size distribution in indoor and outdoor environments with attention to ammonium nitrate transormations
Talbot, Nicholas Philip ; Ždímal, Vladimír (advisor) ; Hovorka, Jan (referee) ; Vojtíšek, Michal (referee)
Due to its prevalence over large, densely populated areas, ammonium nitrate is an important chemical species in aerosol research. However, due to its volatility at ambient temperatures and over low temperature gradients, ammonium nitrate can be a difficult species to accurately measure. The volatility of ammonium nitrate is known to be dependent on temperature, relative humidity, the internal mixing state of the particle, and availability of the precursor gas constituents. The particle's physical state affects the equilibrium constant value of the ammonium nitrate - nitric acid / ammonia exchange and helps determine the dissociation rate. For indoor aerosol research, the outdoor originating aerosol particles' exposure to the new physical conditions indoors, such as changes in temperature, humidity, and particle-surface reactions within the microenvironment all accelerate ammonium nitrate dissociation. This increased rate of partitioning can generate artifacts on datasets, increase indoor particle formation, and accelerate the corrosion of cultural antiquities through acidification. The magnitude of these impacts is uncertain due to the current lack of knowledge on particle transformation processes when outdoor originating particles migrate indoors. To address this gap in knowledge, this thesis...
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Formation and transformation of atmospheric aerosol in boundary layer
Holubová Šmejkalová, Adéla ; Ždímal, Vladimír (advisor) ; Řezáčová, Daniela (referee) ; Hrubý, Jan (referee)
Title: Formation and transformation of atmospheric aerosol in boundary layer Author: Mgr. Adéla Holubová Šmejkalová Institute: Institute for Environmental Studies Supervisor: Ing. Vladimír Ždímal, Dr., Institute of Chemical Process Fundamen- tals of the CAS Training workplace: Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the CAS Abstract: The experimental measurement of aerosol clusters from 1.17 nm in size was carried out from August 2016 till December 2018 at the National Atmospheric Observatory Košetice. Atmospheric conditions leading to aerosol clusters stabili- zation, fresh particles formation and particle growth were analyzed. Data of days with no new particle formation confrmed the connection between mixing layer height development and decrease of total aerosol number concentration together with lower gaseous pollutant concentrations. On the contrary, new particle for- mation process overcomes dilution of the atmosphere by increasing the number of freshly nucleated particles. Only decreasing gaseous pollutant concentrations were observed during these events. The atmospheric boundary layer was high du- ring new particle formation events that can mean enrichment of the atmosphere by other components transported by long-range transport or some transfer from the free troposphere. The measurement in...
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The measurement of the heterogeneous particles in the steam
Bartoš, Ondřej ; Hrubý, Jan ; Ždímal, Vladimír ; Kolovratník, Michal ; Jiříček, I. ; Moravec, Pavel ; Zíková, Naděžda
The aim of this extended abstract is to reveal the work done as cooperation between several institutions which was presented and published in recent years (Kolovratník, 2014). The formation of droplets in low-pressure steam turbines has a significant impact on the efficiency of energy conversion due to the strongly nonequilibrium nature of this process . The condensed water also erodes the turbine blades. A very important question is to what extent heterogeneous nucleation contributes to the phase transition process . In the case of heterogeneous nucleation , the number of droplets depends only on the number of h eterogeneous particles in the system, whereas in the case of homogeneous nucleation, the number of created droplets is determined rather by the expansion rate - in a faster expansion, greater supersaturation and more droplets are formed until the released condensation enthalpy quenches the nucleation.\nThe specific number of droplets (number of droplets per unit mass of steam) formed in the turbine can be determined by optical probes, developed first by Walters and later in the Czech Republic improved by Petr and Kolovratník. Until recently, no information was available on the relative importance of heterogeneous nucleation in forming these droplets.
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Experimental Methods to Study Aerosol Nanoparticles.
Ždímal, Vladimír ; Schwarz, Jaroslav ; Ondráčková, Lucie ; Ondráček, Jakub
During the last few decades, the experimental possibilities of studying aerosol particles have grown enormously. Not only is it possible to determine the particle size distribution in different metrics, not only can the chemical composition of the size-resolved aerosol be determined, but methods have been developed over the last two decades that allow all of these tasks to be handled in real time. These methods stem from several basic physical principles: molecular diffusion based on Brownian motion, electrostatic separation of particles with predictable charge, condensational growth of particles, gravitational settling, acceleration of particles in nozzles, inertial impaction, and light scattering on particles.\nHowever, if we are specifically interested in separating particles smaller than 100 nanometers in diameter, the choice of experimental methods would be substantially reduced. In fact, we have only four physical principles that can be utilized in this size range with reasonable degree of uncertainty: Brownian motion, electrostatics, impaction and condensation. For the determination of the chemical composition in a given size range, the most commonly used is a combination of physical / chemical ionization with mass detection, however, the range of quantifiable substances is greatly limited.\nRecently, exposure monitoring of workers in the production of engineered nanoparticles has become increasingly important. Here, the task is further complicated by the fact that it is necessary to sample directly from the vicinity of the worker's mouth to determine personal exposure. As far as the collection of nanoparticles in the respiratory zone is concerned, there is not yet a great choice of options, and experimental methods are still being developed and tested. A promising alternative is a stationary measurement, where state-of-the-art aerosol spectrometers are located close to the working space of the personnel, so that the actual exposure of the worker can be estimated. In this case, however, it is necessary to calibrate the on-line instruments by comparison with simultaneous personal collection.\n
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The origin of air pollution on the basis of one year measurements of PM2.5 and PM10 at two urban background stations in Prague
Schwarz, Jaroslav ; Pokorná, Petra ; Rychlík, Š. ; Škáchová, H. ; Smolík, Jiří ; Ždímal, Vladimír ; Vlček, O. ; Hůnová, I.
The particulate matter (PM) mass concentration in cities corresponds to the sum of the concentrations measured at the background stations and the difference between the city and background stations. For this reason, at high background concentrations of PM, the result of emission reduction measures is low. Most of the reported episodes of increased PM concentrations in winter in central European cities are caused by sources of local or regional origin from the combustion of coal and / or biomass for heating purposes. Improvement of air quality in cities is possible provided that causality is understood, especially when it comes to atmospheric aerosol and its concentration, sources and origin.\nThe aim of the work was to determine the origin of air pollution in Prague on the basis of one year parallel measurements of atmospheric aerosol at two urban background stations.\n\n
Fulltext: content.csg -  PDF
Plný tet: SKMBT_C22020011314370 - PDF
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Dependence of activated aerosol on horizontal hydrometeor type.
Zíková, Naděžda ; Pokorná, Petra ; Pešice, Petr ; Sedlák, Pavel ; Ždímal, Vladimír
Atmospheric aerosol (AA) affects not only cloud formation, but also other cloud properties such as droplet size distribution, chemical composition, etc. The interaction between AA and cloud does not have to be investigated only by aerial measurements, but the same processes can be observed in fog and low clouds. An example of a station suitable for such research is Milešovka station, where the fog (or low clouds) is 55% of the time. Here, measurements were made to describe the effect of fog on the number size distributions of AA and activated nucleation nuclei.
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NMR Aerosolomics as a Tool to Distinguish Various Types of Aerosol Samples.
Horník, Štěpán ; Schwarz, Jaroslav ; Ždímal, Vladimír ; Sýkora, Jan
In the recent study, the summer and winter aerosol samples were analyzed using NMR aerosolomics approach. The samples were collected in Prague-Suchdol during summer 2008 and winter 2009 in two different particle size fractions - PM2.5 and PM 10. Around 50 compounds were identified in each aerosol spectrum owing to the comprehensive library. The profile of 86 identified compounds, which were identified in the samples altogether, served as an input data for statistical analysis. Multivariate statistical analysis clearly discriminates the two groups studied. Furthermore, it is possible to determine the most significant compounds.
Fulltext: content.csg - PDF
Plný tet: SKMBT_C22019041212342 - PDF
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